Re: Susan Rice's email to herself on Inauguration Day

Tom5678 wrote:more smokescreen and distraction off the Russia collusion probe again I see. I give you credit you don't quit. Nothing here to see....next diversion????

Tom 5678, I actually disagree with that. I think the fact that she felt she needed to write a CYA memo as she was leaving due to knowing that incoming members who were communicating with known spies were going to have access to sensitive materials says wonders.

Re: Susan Rice's email to herself on Inauguration Day

Graham said it's "odd and disturbing" that Rice would send herself an email on Obama's last day in office talking about a Jan. 5 conversation where Obama instructed the FBI to handle the Russia investigation "by the book."

We now know the FBI's Russia investigation "was anything but by the book," Graham said.

"So, what I'm worried about -- is this an effort by the president to basically get himself on the record through Susan Rice to make sure that from his point of view, everything was done by the book?

"The question is, did the president know anything about the FISA warrant application?" Graham asked. "Did Susan Rice know that the warrant application included a dossier from Mr. Steele, when he was on the payroll of the Democratic Party, coming from Russian sources; that he was a political operative being paid by the Democratic Party and that the information in the FISA warrant application was a dossier that was political in nature and that Mr. Steele hated...candidate Trump and was trying to do what he could to beat him. That's not exactly by the book," Graham said.

"I mean, it's the oddest thing in the world to send an email to yourself on inauguration day about a conversation held on January the 5th where the president tells the law enforcement community and the Intel community, 'Now, when you look at this Russian stuff, you need to do it by the book.' That's an odd thing to be saying on January the 5th.

"Number one, why should he have to say that to begin with? Number two, what brought on that conversation on January the 5th? They knew they were going to be out of power just in days. They sent an email trail showing the president was instructing everybody doing it by the book. And when you look at what happened, it was an abuse of power not by the book. So this is really odd."

Graham also wondered, "What did Comey say when the president allegedly told him, 'I want you to do it by the book?' Do you think Comey mentioned to the president that the chief source of information regarding a FISA warrant on Carter Page came from a paid operative of the Democratic party, Mr. Steele who is on the payroll of Fusion GPS that was being paid by the Clinton campaign and the Democratic Party; that the dossier came from Russian sources, very unreliable and still hasn't been verified; that the number four guy in the FBI, Mr. Ohr's wife worked at Fusion GPS who did the research for Mr. Steele?

“Do you think he told the president any of that? This is the oddest conversation I can imagine. Why are they talking about doing things by the book on January the 5th and what did Comey say when he was told to do it by the book?"

In their letter, Grassley and Graham asked Susan Rice to answer the following questions by February 22, 2018 "so the committee may further assess the situation."

-- Did you send the email attached to this letter to yourself? Do you have any reason to dispute the timestamp of the email?

-- When did you first become aware of the FBI’s investigation into allegations of collusion between Mr. Trump’s associates and Russia?

-- When did you become aware of any surveillance activities, including FISA applications, undertaken by the FBI in conducting that investigation?

-- At the time you wrote this email to yourself, were you aware of either the October 2016 FISA application for surveillance of Carter Page or the January 2017 renewal?

-- Did anyone instruct, request, suggest, or imply that you should send yourself the aforementioned Inauguration Day email memorializing President Obama’s meeting with Mr. Comey about the Trump/Russia investigation? If so, who and why?

-- Is the account of the January 5, 2017 meeting presented in your email accurate? Did you omit any other portions of the conversation?

-- Other than that email, did you document the January 5, 2017 meeting in any way, such as contemporaneous notes or a formal memo? To the best of your knowledge, did anyone else at that meeting take notes or otherwise memorialize the meeting?

-- During the meeting, did Mr. Comey or Ms. Yates mention potential press coverage of the Steele dossier? If so, what did they say?

-- During the meeting, did Mr. Comey describe the status of the FBI’s relationship with Mr. Steele, or the basis for that status?

-- When and how did you first become aware of the allegations made by Christopher Steele?

-- When and how did you first become aware that the Clinton Campaign and the Democratic National Committee funded Mr. Steele’s efforts?

-- You wrote that President Obama stressed that he was “not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective.” Did President Obama ask about, initiate, or instruct anything from any other perspective relating to the FBI’s investigation?

-- Did President Obama have any other meetings with Mr. Comey, Ms. Yates, or other government officials about the FBI’s investigation of allegations of collusion between Trump associates and Russia? If so, when did these occur, who participated, and what was discussed?

Susan Rice's email to herself on Inauguration Day

Sens. Grassley, Graham have questions about Susan Rice's email to herself on Inauguration Day

Republicans Chuck Grassley and Lindsey Graham have questions for former National Security Adviser Susan Rice regarding what they're flagging as an "unusual email" she sent to herself on Inauguration Day, just moments before she departed the White House for the last time.

Grassley, the Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, and Graham, who chairs the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Terrorism, released a statement and a letter they wrote to Rice outlining their concerns about her email as it relates to the Senate's probe into Russian interference in the 2016 election. The lawmakers say they received the email in question as a result of a request to the National Archives for records of meetings between President Obama and then-FBI Director James Comey.

The email that Rice sent to herself on January 20, 2017 at 12:15 p.m., seems to document a meeting she attended with then-President Obama, FBI Director James Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates two weeks before, on Jan. 5. Rice's note reads as follows, according to Grassley's and Graham's statement:

On January 5, following a briefing by IC leadership on Russian hacking during the 2016 Presidential election, President Obama had a brief follow-on conversation with FBI Director Jim Comey and Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates in the Oval Office. Vice President Biden and I were also present.

That meeting reportedly included a discussion of the Steele dossier and the FBI's investigation of its claims.

President Obama began the conversation by stressing his continued commitment to ensuring that every aspect of this issue is handled by the Intelligence and law enforcement communities 'by the book'. The President stressed that he is not asking about, initiating or instructing anything from a law enforcement perspective. He reiterated that our law enforcement team needs to proceed as it normally would by the book.

From a national security perspective, however, President Obama said he wants to be sure that, as we engage with the incoming team, we are mindful to ascertain if there is any reason that we cannot share information fully as it relates to Russia.

While a portion of the email remains classified, the correspondence continues, reading, "The President asked Comey to inform him if anything changes in the next few weeks that should affect how we share classified information with the incoming team. Comey said he would."

Grassley and Graham said in their statement that they found it "odd" that Rice felt it was necessary to send herself "such an unusual email purporting to document a conversation involving President Obama and his interactions with the FBI regarding the Trump/Russia investigation" in her final hours as a member of the Obama administration.

The Republican lawmakers suggest that despite Rice's claims that Obama had told Comey to proceed "by the book," questions have since arisen about the conduct of FBI officials, the DOJ and State Department in the course of the investigation.

Grassley and Graham sent Rice a list of questions, asking her to respond by February 22. They asked about Rice's knowledge of the FBI's investigation into possible ties between Trump campaign associates and Russia, as well as her knowledge of any surveillance activities undertaken, including the FISA application submitted by the FBI to wiretap Trump adviser Carter Page.

CBS News' Nancy Cordes reports that top Democratic aides on the Committee view Grassley and Graham's request as part of Republicans' ongoing effort to discredit the Steele dossier as a democratic hit piece, and to suggest that politics have impacted the FBI's investigation at its earliest stages.